Conception and casting

The character was originally named Chloe Stewart but was changed to Miley Stewart.[1]

Cyrus learned about the casting for a new Disney show at the age of 11 through a Nashville talent agent. She sent in a tape auditioning for the show's best friend role, but received a call asking her to audition for the lead. After she sent in a tape and was flown to Hollywood for further auditions, Cyrus was told that she was too young and too small for the role. However, Cyrus' persistence and ability to sing in addition to act caused the show's producers to invite her back for further auditions. Producers eventually narrowed the large pool of candidates down to three actresses, including Cyrus and Taylor Momsen, and gave the part to Cyrus, then twelve.[2] According to Disney Channel president Gary Marsh, Cyrus was chosen because of her energetic and lively performance and was seen as a person who "loves every minute of life,"[3] with the "everyday relatability of Hilary Duff and the stage presence of Shania Twain."[4]

Cyrus' casting also led to the casting of her real life father, Billy Ray Cyrus, as the father of her character on the show. Cyrus was initially wary; according to her mother and co-manager, Tish Cyrus, "Miley's concern at the time was, oh my gosh, people are going to think I only got this part because of my dad."[2] However, worried that her family would otherwise have to be separated as they had been when her father first landed the lead in the television series Doc, Cyrus relented and helped audition her father for the part.[2]

Character

Backstory

Miley was born on November 23, 1992 (Cyrus's real birth date), in the fictional town of Crowley Corners in Tennessee, in Buford County, Tennessee, (probably located somewhere in southern Williamson or northern Maury Counties). Her family consisted of her parents Robby and Susan Stewart and an older brother named Jackson. She also has many relatives in her extended family including her grandmother Ruthie Stewart, Aunt Dolly (played by Dolly Parton), Uncle Earl and Aunt Pearl, and a cousin named Luann (who looks nearly identical and is also played by Cyrus). The characterizations given to most of her family members poke fun at country bumpkin stereotypes. She also had a pet pig named Luann and a pet hamster named Leslie. She has a horse named Blue Jeans, who came from Tennessee to Malibu to live with Miley and her family.

Miley received a love for music from her father, who was a popular country music star. Her parents recognized Miley's potential and gave her a guitar on December 25, 2000. This event is shown in the episode "I Am Hannah, Hear Me Croak" when Miley views it on her laptop.[5]

By the time she was 12 years old, Miley had become a famous pop star under the stage name "Hannah Montana." She goes to great lengths to disguise herself as Hannah in order to keep her true identity a secret, because she is worried that if people knew her secret they would like her just because she's famous. Before revealing her secret in I'll Always Remember You, it is mentioned by Jackson, Sienna and Rico that the only people to know about her secret beside her family are Lilly and Oliver, her former bodyguard Roxy, her ex-boyfriend Jake, her current boyfriend Jesse, Sienna and all of Crowley Corners, Tennessee. However, in the episode "Hannah Montana to the Principal's Office" it is shown that the President of the United States knows her secret.

Family relationships

Miley is especially close with her father, from whom she receives much good advice and emotional support. She also values her relationships with her best friends Lilly and Oliver. However Miley is shown to be very uncomfortable with the fact that they're dating and even stops them from being a couple. Her relationship with Lilly occasionally suffers the occasional setback, but they always make up. In the episode 'What I Don't Like About You', Miley is asked to choose a side between a fight Lilly and Oliver had. But Miley, showing what a kind friend she was, made a mini-Indiana Joannie movie, which made Lilly and Oliver forgive each other. Miley's relationship with her brother Jackson is often hostile. The two siblings constantly fight and trash talk each other. However, in a few private conversations, both Miley and Jackson say that they love and appreciate each other, but they are both unwilling to admit this in public.[6]

Romantic relationships

Miley also has several dating relationships, many of which are short lived.

Oliver Oken (played by Mitchel Musso): Miley and Lilly's best male friend. "In I Honestly Love You (No Not You)", Miley believes that Oliver is in love with her when she overhears him (while asleep in the hospital because of a broken ankle) say "I love you". However, after a talk with her dad she thinks that Oliver will move on and so will Lilly but when Lilly announces that she is in love with Oliver, Miley ends up telling her the truth. Lilly and Miley hatch a plan to get Oliver back but only to find out that he was practicing saying "I love you" so he could say it to Lilly. They both say that they love each other in the end of the episode. (It is mentioned in this episode that neither Oliver nor Miley have romantic feelings for each other). However, Oliver did used to have romantic feelings towards Hannah Montana before he knew she was Miley. Miley, at first, didn't want to tell him who she was, just in case he had romantic feelings for her as Miley, but when she eventually told him, he saw her as just a friend.

Leslie "Jake" Ryan (played by Cody Linley): Jake is a famous television star. Miley and Jake meet when he briefly attends Seaview Middle School. Jake is attracted to Miley because she is the only person at school who is not starstruck by his arrival. Miley at first denies having feelings for him, but she tries to "make him jealous" by using another guy. It works in a fortunate result of her and Jake kissing, but Jake tells Miley he has to go shoot a movie in Romania and she stands him up. Jake then reappears in "Achy Jakey Heart" Part 1 and tries to win Miley back. She decides to give him a chance, after Jake revealing feelings for her on live national TV. Miley soon tells Jake that she's Hannah Montana, because Jake told his secret to Miley. Jake tries to play normal like Miley, but when he cannot handle the pressure of not getting what he wants, the two decide to be just friends, although it is revealed to the audience in "Jake... Another Piece of My Heart," that both Jake and Miley still have feelings for each other, but neither one is willing to admit it. In "He Could Be The One", Miley chooses Jake over Jesse (her guitarist) because they have so much history and she believes he could be the one. They then officially start dating. It was unknown whether they were still together or not because Jake had never been seen or mentioned since the episode "He could be the one". However,in the season 4 episode "California Screamin" it is implied that the two are still together as Miley talks about Jake quite often in the episode suggesting that they haven't broken up. In the season 4 episode "It's the End of Jake As We Know It" Oliver gets a picture texted to his phone of Jake cheating on Miley, so Miley beats Jake up on the taping of a Christmas special with guest star Sheryl Crow. This ends their relationship for good.

Travis Brody (played by Lucas Till): Travis is a childhood friend from Tennessee. It is said in the movie that they both used to like each other when they were younger. The two become reacquainted during Miley's return to Tennessee in Hannah Montana: The Movie. He discovers that Miley is Hannah Montana and the two kiss, assuming that they get together. However, even though the movie does not show it, it is implied that they broke up due to the fact that Miley went back to California and their relationship would not work long distance. Also, he is not mentioned during the episodes following the movie.

Jesse (played by Drew Roy): Is a part of Hannah's band in episode "He Could Be The One". Hannah pretends to like Jesse, so that Robby will be thankful of Jake. But she starts to have real feelings for him. Miley then has to listen to her heart and chose the guy who could "be the one." She ends up choosing Jake over Jesse. In the season 4 episode "Been Here All Along", She goes out on a date with Jesse (as Miley), but gets angry when he took a phone call from his father, since she blow off her "father- daughter day" with her dad, but when Jesse tells her that he took the call because his dad is stationed in Afghanistan and they don't get to talk often, Miley is inspired to hold a concert as Hannah for military families. In another episode in the 4th season Miley reveals to Jesse that she is Hannah. Yet to her surprise he already knows. Jesse can't take the pressure of dating Hannah and Miley and ends it with Miley. In the end of the episode, Jesse comes back to Miley and then she reveals her secret to the whole world.

Education

In the first season, Miley is an 8th grader at Seaview Middle School, and in the second season she enters Seaview High School. She became a sophomore in early episodes in Season 3 and later, a junior during the season before the beginning of Season 4. Despite her father offering her the option of homeschooling, Miley decided to attend Public School in order to be a "normal kid," a decision she sometimes finds herself regretting.[7] Due to her double life, she is often in awkward positions and is forced to lie in order to keep her secret.

Hobbies and interests

Apart from her life as a pop star, Miley leads a very normal life. She is fond of camping[8] and hanging out at the beach, but is not at all athletic.[9] She has a fear of spiders[10] and visiting the dentist.[11] She also occasionally struggles with her school work and her self-confidence.
She often goes through over-the-top schemes to deal with her problems.
Although she never plays instruments while performing as Hannah, Miley can play the piano and the guitar. She owns several acoustic and electric guitars, including a black strat copy she nicknamed "Whammy Bar Wally"[12] and a pink sparkle electric acoustic Stardust Series Daisy Rock guitar.[13] In Hannah Montana: The Movie, Miley plays a custom built Gibson acoustic guitar.

While her father is her main songwriter, Miley has written a few of her own songs. In "She's a Supersneak," Miley writes the song "I Miss You" about her mother after learning her father is dating another woman. (In real life, the song was written by Miley Cyrus for her grandfather Ron Cyrus.) In Hannah Montana: The Movie, Stewart writes "Butterfly Fly Away" and "The Climb". Stewart wrote "Butterfly Fly Away" after an argument with Travis (Till) and her dad breaking off his relationship for her. In the story, "The Climb" began when she was in the hen house writing. Travis (Till) told her that the song didn't represent who she is or how she feels. Later in a concert, she performs it live revealing the entire song with its new lyrics. Then, in the episode "He Could Be the One" Miley wrote a song called "I'm Just Having Fun". While practicing with her band, Miley decided the song needed lyrical innovation and revamping. Then, when she was mad at her father; Miley altered the lyrics to a "I don't care what you say, I don't care what you say, just 'cause your my daddy doesn't mean you get it your way". She decided to give up on the song, but later with her guitar player she finally made it into "He Could Be the One", inspired by Jake (Cody Linley) and Jesse (her guitar player). In the 4th season, Miley writes a bunch of new songs that are heard and played throughout the season. She made a song with Iyaz called "Gonna Get This".

Hannah Montana

Hannah Montana is Miley Stewart's alter ego. The character was originally going to be named Alexis Texas, but the name was changed to Hannah Montana.[14] Hannah exists as a secret identity, an extremely popular and influential worldwide popstar. Hannah's many fans are not aware that she is really just a normal teenage girl, and Miley tries to keep her two lives separate from each other.

Secret and purpose

Keeping Miley's secret involves a two sided effort. As Hannah, she must keep her fans unaware that she is really a normal kid, and as Miley, she must keep her friends unaware that she is really Hannah Montana. In interviews, Miley Cyrus spoke of the implausibility of being able to keep a secret such as Miley and her family do in the show in a world of intense media scrutiny. The show however, remains workable primarily based on suspension of disbelief.

In the show, three other people (Robby, Lilly, and Oliver) also wear disguises when around Hannah to prevent anyone from drawing a connection to Miley (Jackson is himself, only as a childhood friend). Hannah also typically swaps limos as she leaves concert venues to keep the paparazzi from following her home.[15] Miley must also rely on the silence of the people who know her secret. These include her family members, Robby, Jackson, Mammaw Ruthie, Aunt Dolly, Uncle Earl and Aunt Pearl, her cousin Luann, her friends Lilly Truscott and her parents, Oliver Oken and his mother, Jake Ryan, Farmine and Roxy, as well as Officer Diaria and his daughter Kelsey, Siena and the President of the United States. (This group grows exponentially at the end of Hannah Montana: The Movie.)

Despite these careful efforts, her father seems to enjoy writing Hannah songs which explicitly speak of her double life, such as "The Best of Both Worlds," "Just Like You," "The Other Side of Me," "Rock Star," "Old Blue Jeans," "Just a Girl," "Supergirl," and "Ordinary Girl." In frustration of this, Miley once complained "You might as well tattoo 'I'm really Miley Stewart' on my forehead!"[12] Also, in the episode "Get Down Study-udy-udy", Rico has almost discovered Miley's secret according to the "Bone Dance" which was created by Miley by rewriting the lyrics of "Nobody's Perfect" and her voice singing it

In Hannah Montana: The Movie, Hannah reveals herself as Miley during a concert in her hometown of Crowley Corners, Tennessee, but her fans do not want her to stop being Hannah, and so they promise to keep her secret. This event is actually mentioned in "For (Give) a Little Bit" during an argument between Miley and Jackson, meaning that the movie would fit right in the middle of season 3 as if it were a part of the season.

Near the end of the series, in "I'll Always Remember You", Miley reveals her secret on The Jay Leno Show by taking off her wig and singing a song called "Wherever I Go" as Miley. She gets a standing ovation and the episode ends with Miley smiling. Lilly and Robby also take off their disguises.

Miley has several reasons for creating Hannah. She is afraid that if the kids at school discover she is famous they won't treat her the same.[16] While she enjoys the attention of her fame as Hannah, she equally enjoys the option of "stepping out" of her role.[17] Miley also values her privacy and doesn't want fans or paparazzi photographers mobbing her when she goes out in public. In this way, Hannah Montana presents a unique inversion of typical celebrity experiences. While most celebrities become famous as themselves and later need disguises to not be noticed in public, Hannah Montana became famous while in disguise, and now has the freedom to be in public as herself.

As a secondary benefit, Miley also sometimes uses Hannah for specific purposes such as spying.[18] She also uses Hannah in other ways. In "Money for Nothing, Guilt for Free," Hannah raises money for a school charity drive in which Miley is competing. In "Bye Bye, Ball," Hannah performs at a restaurant in order to get a baseball autographed for Jackson. And in "Ready, Set, Don't Drive," Hannah obtains a drivers license after Miley fails the test. Hannah also sometimes tries to use her dual personality as an excuse. For example, in "You Gotta Not Fight for Your Right to Party," Miley asks Robby to only ground Miley, not Hannah, because "Hannah didn't do anything wrong."

Appearance

Hannah's blonde wig is the primary difference between her and the brunette Miley, although Hannah also wears more extravagant clothes, make-up, and sometimes large sunglasses. In the Hannah Montana story, the famous blonde wig was picked out for Miley by Roxy.[19] (In real life, the wig was not chosen until the second episode. The original wig seen in the pilot was a slightly different style, though the famous blonde wig was first seen in Hannah's concert footage of "This Is the Life" in the first scene of the pilot). Miley Stewart also mentions that she intentionally patterned Hannah's look after her godmother Aunt Dolly Parton, though it was never officially stated if Parton was the true inspiration behind the character's wardrobe, Hannah's look does draw heavy influence from the real-life Queen of Country as she is the real-life godmother of Cyrus.[20]

Miley previously experienced an image crisis in "Yet Another Side of Me" in which she grew concerned that Hannah's look might become outdated. After considering a "Techno Hannah," "Half-Dolla Hannah," (Hip hop) and the "Anti-Hannah," (Grunge) Miley decides that her fans like her for who she is.

Starting in the third season, Hannah's look changes slightly. Her wig is shorter and wavy and her fashion changes as well (more boldly coloured). This is discussed on the DVD Keeping It Real in the bonus feature "Miley's Makeover – Hannah Gets a New Look." Cyrus and her team describe the new look as an "'80s flavored style with the glitz and glam of modern fashion." It is also revealed in Super(stitious) Girl, as part of Wizards on Deck With Hannah Montana, that she started wearing a single pink glove during concerts and it is also shown in music videos like It's All Right Here and Let's Get Crazy that she does. It symbolizes how Hannah Montana is growing up as well. In season 4, she gets a new wig that's long again but curlier. Her style also is back to glam-country girlish style.

Career

Hannah Montana's music career is very successful although there have been a few slips. In the pilot episode she is said to be continuing a "smash tour" which was being sold out, yet the subsequent episodes show Miley still going to school (something that wouldn't be possible with a "smash tour"). In "Yet Another Side of Me," Robby says that he has written 15 straight number ones for her. However, he may have been exaggerating since in "Miley Hurt the Feelings of the Radio Star" he says he has written 14 number ones for her.[21] Hannah also wins several awards including a Silver Boot "Booty" award for best country pop crossover with the song "True Friend,"[22] and an International Music Award for Female Artist of the Year.[23] She is also honored with her own diamond on the Hollywood Parade of Diamonds, a parody of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[24] She also sings for the Queen of England and the President of the United States (President Martinez in a crossover episode and mentioned performing for President Obama and Sasha and Malia Obama in season 4's "Hannah Montana to the Principal's Office"). Hannah's greatest rival is fellow pop star Mikayla (Selena Gomez) who is determined to steal Hannah's fans.[25]

Beyond her music career, Hannah also does some acting. She guest stars on the television show Zombie High as Zaronda, Princess of the Undead. Jake Ryan's character saves Zaronda from the portal to the underworld.[26] Hannah later stars in her own feature film, Rob Reiner's Indiana Joannie and the Curse of the Golden Cobra (a parody of the Indiana Jones film franchise), alongside Chace Crawford.[27] Hannah also endorses perfume and skin care products.[28]

As a well known celebrity, Hannah makes regular appearances on tall shows and attends glamorous parties. Despite being fictional, Hannah knows many real life celebrities, including some who are friends of Miley Cyrus, such as Taylor Swift and the Jonas Brothers.

Discography

Beyond the series

Hannah Montana as a character has found fame beyond the television show, primarily as a recording artist and music performer. Three of the seven released soundtracks (Hannah Montana, Hannah Montana 2, and Hannah Montana: The Movie) topped the U.S. Billboard 200 chart as well as several singles credited to the character, charted on the Billboard Hot 100.[29] From September to October 2006, Miley Cyrus performed several songs from Hannah Montana during The Party's Just Begun Tour as an opening act for The Cheetah Girls. Then, from October 2007 to January 2008, Cyrus performed in a successful concert tour as Hannah Montana. The tour, called the Best of Both Worlds Tour, became a classic example of life imitating art as Hannah Montana's fictional popularity seen in the television show became a real-life fan base which bought out every concert. The popularity of Hannah Montana has also given Cyrus the opportunity to become a pop star in her own right.

References

^Cyrus, Miley; Hilary Liftin (2008). "Chloe Stewart". Miles To Go. Bath, UK: Parragon. p. 59. ISBN978-1-4075-6261-2. My character's name was Chloe Stewart. Her alter ego's name was Hannah Montana. It was just way too many names. So they dropped the one that was easiest to let go. My character's name changed to Miley Stewart.

^Conversations seen in "Grandma Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Favorites," "Bad Moose Rising," "I Am Hannah, Hear Me Croak," "You Gotta Not Fight for Your Right to Party," "When You Wish You Were the Star," and "Cheat It".